V 7 N. 18 Ed Whitlock R.I.P.

Ed Whitlock

Ed Whitlock passed away yesterday.   He ran his last competitive race in December,  ran a marathon in October, just 4  1/2 months ago.  He was 86 years old.  He was not just an old marathoner.  There are lots of them.  He was simply the best man who, after the age of 70, ever ran across the face of the earth.

His likeability was second to none.  Self depricating humour was his forte.  Who else trains exclusively in a cemetery and could say, "At least nobody bothers me there."?   He didn't seem to follow any scientific principles or give sound advice.  He merely ran and ran regularly and a lot.  He was gifted with genetics, and when he discovered this gift he used it to the fullest.  We try to teach children this behavior, and Ed was a prime example.

Ed in his favorite training area

I've not seen Ed since 1976 when I was living in Quebec.  We raced several times on the track, perhaps never on the roads.  He was 45 years old then and looked every bit of 60 years.  But oh did he have  wheels.  I could never out kick the man, and he was thirteen years older than me at the time.  Ed raced from his days as a school boy right through to the end.  There may have been some breaks in his racing while he was establishing a career as a mining engineer in his adopted Canada.  He was an Englishman who became a Canadian.   If we look at various senior runners and their running histories, we find very, very few who ran all their lives.  The seniors today seem only to have discovered the sport after the age of about fifty. They aren't carrying the endemic injuries that end careers too early.   But Ed was the exception.   No one lives or runs forever, but no one ever saw Ed in the End Game.   The cycle of  life inevitably caught up to him.  But it is one of the only things that ever did catch up to Ed.   Rest in Peace , Ed.

George Brose


Click below to see Ed's obituary in the Globe and Mail

Ed Whitlock The Globe and Mail  by Marty Klinkenberg